The cinematic follow-up to a wildly successful literary adaptation has arrived, and the results are disappointingly flat. “Regretting You,” the latest film based on a novel by a bestselling author, struggles to find its footing, delivering a tonally inconsistent drama that wastes its capable lead performer.
The story hinges on two sisters, Morgan and Jenny, and their intertwined relationships with best friends Chris and Jonah. We first meet them as teenagers in 2006, though the casting of actors clearly in their thirties to play 16-year-olds proves to be an immediate and persistent distraction. The foundational love triangles and unspoken affections established in youth set the stage for a tragedy that unfolds seventeen years later.
Now adults with families of their own, the characters are brought back together in their small North Carolina hometown after a devastating car crash claims two lives and reveals a hidden affair. The narrative then attempts to juggle profound grief with rekindled romance and the turbulent emotions of a teenage daughter, Clara.
This is where the film falters. It lurches awkwardly between moments of raw, unfathomable loss and scenes of light, almost sitcom-like fluff. One minute, a character is shattering the windows of a dead loved one’s car in a fit of rage; the next, she’s engaged in a playful driving lesson montage. The emotional whiplash prevents any genuine connection to the characters’ plights.
The central performance from Allison Williams, an actress known for her sharp comedic timing, feels underutilized. Her character, a meticulous mother and aspiring designer, is given little depth beyond these basic traits. While Dave Franco manages to inject some palpable yearning into his role, the overall chemistry among the cast is lacking, making the various romantic entanglements feel more like plot mechanics than compelling relationships.
At a lengthy two-hour runtime, the pacing feels pedestrian. The film meanders through uninspired depictions of mourning and by-the-numbers romantic beats, failing to build any consistent momentum. A fleeting moment of genuine power emerges when the teenage Clara, overwhelmed by a maelstrom of grief and rebellion, makes a rash proposition to her boyfriend. For a single, arresting shot, the movie taps into a complex, dark emotional truth, but the moment is quickly abandoned, unable to survive in the film’s otherwise sterile environment.
“Regretting You” serves as a cautionary tale about the difficulty of translating literary success to the screen. It possesses the blueprint of a potent family drama but lacks the crucial ingredients—coherent tone, believable casting, and emotional authenticity—to make its story resonate. The result is a bumpy, mild-mannered film that suggests the author’s hot streak in Hollywood may be cooling off.
